Sweet dreams are made of Pocky
by Misura
Summary: Seto makes the grave error of taking away Mokuba's pocky. And then Joey pops up ... [SetoJoey]
1. First

Sweet dreams are made of .... Pocky

Warnings/notes : Seto/Joey, Mokuba, major weirdness bordering on insanity

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 1st november 2003, by Misura

For Ramna Higurashi ; insanity in, insanity out I'm afraid. ~.^

**********

Seto Kaiba was a lot of things, most of them not in the line of characteristics that made people like him.

One thing he prided himself on however was that when it came to Mokuba, he was the most patient, most forgiving and caring big brother there had ever been.

That Mokuba was the sweetest, easiest-going little brother there ever was helped too of course, but still, Seto would like to think his own attitude had contributed to the positive and cheerful personality Mokuba displayed most of the time.

That he knew what was best for Mokuba, even if Mokuba sometimes didn't see things quite the same way he did. Or even if Mokuba was yelling at him that he was a cruel, heartless monster.

Seto was sure Mokuba didn't mean it. Well, reasonably sure.

"And if you don't give it back *right now*, I'm ... I'm going to leave and never coming back again." Mokuba raged on, his face flushed with anger. "And I'll tell Joey what a meanie you are *after* telling him you've got a crush on him."

"He won't believe the last and he already thinks the first." Seto shrugged, preferring to ignore the threat of Mokuba moving out. Mokuba would never go that far. He hoped.

"And I'll tell Anzu you've got a crush on her too." Mokuba declared, with a glare that made Seto flinch.

This threat was crossing the borders of 'reasonable for an enraged teenager' to 'insane and highly dangerous'.

"Now, Mokuba-chan, calm down a little ... " Seto started, in a tone of voice he considered soothing.

"Don't you dare 'Mokuba-chan' me, Seto!" Mokuba yelled, jumping up from his seat and striding to the door. With his hand on the doorknob he turned. "Now, unless you want me to open this door to walk out so you never ever see me again, you have to give back my pocky this very moment. With apologies for taking it in the first place."

Seto put on his best glare, meant to stun anyone foolish enough to invoke his wrath. "I will do nothing of the kind. And you, little brother, will sit down again and finish eating your breakfast."

For a few seconds, Mokuba wavered under the sternness of that glare. Then his back stiffened and he defiantly raised his head. "Farewell, Seto. You're going to miss me."

After blowing Seto a raspberry in a gesture that he would normally find rather endearing, Mokuba stalked out of the kitchen, slamming first the kitchendoor, then the door to the hall and finally the door to the house behind him.

Seto sighed and decided he needed another cup of coffee.

*****

The morning and afternoon slowly crept past at school, without the expected phone-call from Mokuba, to apologize and assure Seto his little brother still loved him. Seto was beginning to get worried, just a bit. Perhaps something had happened to Mokuba ...

A discrete inquiry to Mokuba's school quieted his unrest on this subject. Apparently he had simply underestimated the value Mokuba would place on what was, basically, an unhealthy, sugar-rich kind of candy that would spoil his teeth.

In time, Mokuba would come to the same conclusion as Seto already had ; that he should be grateful Seto had removed this dangerous and potentially addictive item out of Mokuba's reach, but until then, Seto couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

Usually, when he was in a state like this, he would find comfort in Mokuba, go play some new computer-game with him or something like that. Hearing and seeing Mokuba laugh always made him feel better.

Riling up Joey was a nice alternative, but the blond had disappeared at the first ring of the bell and Seto didn't feel like going to look for him. Joey was probably either at home, a place Seto despised since it angered him to see under what circumstances his -well, let's be honest here- love was forced to live, or he was with Yugi and those other annoying friends of his at the Gameshop.

If he'd bother Joey there, Yami would probably challenge him to a Duel, which -again, no use to deceive himself- he would probably lose. Resulting in his depression getting even worse.

Eventually, since everything at home would remind him of Mokuba's absence, Seto had decided to go to the park. He had brought his laptop too, of course, in an optimistic attempt to do some work.

His mind kept wandering though, from Mokuba, to Joey, to what had started all of this. 

Pocky.

Could it truly be so good that it was a reason for his little brother to argue with him over it? He had a package of it in the pocket of his trenchcoat. He had considered it one of the few places safe from Mokuba. Now, he took it out, staring at it in puzzlement.

It didn't *look* very special.

A reading of the list of ingredients didn't reveal anything particularly extraordinary either. Still, it was possible, he supposed, that their combination created some special taste.

"Only one way to find out."

His hand reached out to unwrap the pocky, until something occurred to him and he guiltily put it away again. This was *Mokuba's*, not his. He couldn't take Mokuba's pocky away from him and then go eat it himself, could he?

Pondering this dilemma, Seto was disturbed by the sudden sound of approaching footsteps. Quickly trying to look fully occupied with his laptop, Seto waited for the unknown person to either pass or make his identity known.

"Kaiba?! What are *you* doing here? Don't you have an office to work in?"

Hmmm. It would seem Joey hadn't gone home or to Yugi's after all. Finally he had some luck today! Carefully suppressing his urge to grin, Seto looked up with a sneer.

"Aren't dogs supposed to wear a leash in this park? Where's yours, mutt?"

~tbc~


	2. Second

Sweet dreams are made of .... Pocky

Warnings/notes : Seto/Joey, Mokuba, major weirdness bordering on insanity

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 3rd november 2003, by Misura

For Ramna Higurashi ; insanity in, insanity out I'm afraid. ~.^

Wow! A very big 'thank you!' to everyone who reviewed the first chapter and made me feel very guilty about not having this second chapter finished sooner. ^^;

Note : this chapter starts at the same time as the first, only focused on Joey. Slight Honda-bashing, perhaps?

**********

Waking up to discover his dreams about being kissed by a certain blue-eyed CEO had been nothing more than that -dreams- was definitely *not* Joey Wheeler's favorite way to start the day.

Of course, one might argue dream-kisses were better than no kisses at all, but Joey would retort to that by stating that the taste of disappointment was more than sufficient to erase the lingering sweetness of fantasies. And then people wondered why he was so grumpy in the morning ...

Fortunately his father was rarely awake when Joey went downstairs for breakfast. They didn't get along too well normally, let alone when they were both cranky, he because of his dreams, his father because of his hang-over.

The bad part was that Joey now took his bad temper to school, where he snarled at anyone unfortunate enough to get on his nerves. Yugi and Honda had already learnt to evade him during the first hours of class for that reason. Seto Kaiba, on the other hand, seemed to take great pleasure in helping Joey get rid of his cropped up frustrations.

Their shouting-matches -well, actually Joey did most of the yelling, while Seto just stood there with a smirk on his face- had reached new heights -or depths- of intensity recently. Which resulted in Joey spending more time thinking about Seto, which resulted in more dreams ... and so on.

*****

School-time crawled by, especially the classes he didn't share with Seto. Yugi and Ryou were both the kind of persons who actually paid attention to the teacher and would either tell him to 'hush' or ignore him, when he'd try to talk to them during lessons. And Honda ...

"I think she likes me." Honda whispered excitedly as the girl whose back he'd been studying turned around, glancing at the two boys behind her as she bent down to pick up a pencil she'd dropped.

"Yeah, right." Joey snorted. It wasn't exactly nice, he knew, but ... anyone with eyes could see the girl wasn't interested the least bit in Honda, for crying out loud! Much better not to let Honda get his hopes up for nothing.

Honda was his friend after all, and, as Anzu said before she whacked Joey for criticizing her new shirt, friends ought to be honest to eachother.

"You're just jealous 'cause she wasn't smiling at *you*." Honda grinned. "But hey, I'm sure she's got some cute friend you can date too."

"Wonderful." Joey groaned, deciding he might as well go along with it. Some people simply didn't *want* to see the truth.

Honda nodded friendly, before going back to staring at the back of his most recent crush, sighing dreamily. Joey muttered something inpolite and went back to droodling in his note-book.

*****

As soon as the bell informed them torture-time was over for today, Joey fled Honda, who was already planning how to -gently- dump his dream-girl if she wasn't as cute and sweet as he hoped her to be, and Yugi, who had offered to help him with his new deck.

In his current mood, he was pretty sure he'd sooner or later blurt out something to give his carefully harbored secret away. Yugi could be perceptive like that, especially with Yami around. You'd think Yami would *distract* Yugi, rather than make him more sensitive to other people's emotions, but no.

Joey wished he knew how Yugi pulled off that little trick. It'd be nice to get back at Kaiba with something so brilliant and dazzling that the CEO wouldn't have a witty retort to it right away.

A speechless Kaiba ... now *there* was something he'd like to see for once. Especially if it'd be because of him, Joey Wheeler, of course. That'd teach Kaiba not to call him those annoying nicknames anymore. Though he didn't mind some of them really. It was kind of cute to be called a 'puppy' after all, by a person who rarely ever dignified anyone with more than a dismissive look.

"This is sooo not good." Joey shook his head, softly muttering curses at the direction his mind had chosen to take. He was glad there weren't too many people in the park yet, so that he could be alone with his -bad, bad- thoughts. Maybe he could straighten his feelings out a little here.

"Kaiba is a mean, cold-hearted, mean, dumb, brilliant, mean, heartless, cruel, mean, sexy, unattractive, mean, unpleasant, fascinating, crazy, snobby bastard whom I'm not obsessing over." Joey told a bored looking duck that swam around in the pond. It nodded solemnly.

"He's really mean, you know, ignoring me all the time. I'm sure he knows I got this damned crush on him. I bet he's laughing at me behind my back." Joey continued. The duck quaked sympathetically.

"Plus, he's forever picking on me. Nothing's ever right about me. I wish he'd just leave me alone! Or no, wait ... " Joey frowned. Black bead-like eyes regarded him with a hint of pity.

"I'm not making any sense, am I?" The duck crooked its head, before turning and swimming away.

Joey sighed and decided he might as well go look for a nice place to sit down for a while. 

*****

When he rounded a corner to be faced with the object of his daydreams and nightmares both, Joey wasn't quite sure if he wasn't still dreaming, sleeping late again for school or about to be roused from sweet slumber by his alarm-clock.

On the other hand though, Kaiba was considerably overdressed for this to be a product of his imagination. And he certainly never dreamt of the CEO having a laptop with him.

Damn. Of all the days Kaiba might have decided to do something as daring and unusual as going to the park he'd picked the *one* day Joey was there too, sitting down at the *one* place Joey had had in mind as well.

"Kaiba?! What are *you* doing here? Don't you have an office to work in?" he snapped, proud to be the first one to recover from the surprise.

"Aren't dogs supposed to wear a leash in this park? Where's yours, mutt?" Kaiba parried with his usual scowl.

Joey frowned, trying to think of a smart reply to that remark. 

Trying not to notice how the top-button of Kaiba's shirt was loose, showing a bit of skin. 

Definitely trying not to fantasize about what would happen if he sat down on Kaiba's conveniently outstretched legs and profitted from the opportunity and privacy presented by the moment to see if he could soften those cold hard lips a little.

~tbc~


	3. Third short chapter

Sweet dreams are made of .... Pocky

Warnings/notes : Seto/Joey, Mokuba, major weirdness bordering on insanity

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 19th november 2003, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the second chapter :

To Kuroi Bara no Twilight : Glad to hear you like it! ^_^

To Femal-Yami/Yugi : Wheeeee! Thanks for the sugar! As to who's going to spill … read and find out! 

To Pikpik246 : Promises are made to be kept.

To alostblackcat : Thank you!

To Senshichan14 : ^_^; Awww, but wouldn't it be the best fantasy of all if Seto loved Jou back? Thank you!

To DarkShadowFlame : Do fishes swim? How could I *not*include my favorite fluffball in this? ^^; Thank you very much!

To Mel Gods : Sorry, did my best. ^^; Hope you'll like it.

To What is pocky : Several reviewers have explained this (there's even a pocky-website) so I've included one of them below. : )

To Star Light Shadow : Oh, Joey has got quite some tricks up his sleeve. ^_^ Thank you!

To Saph : It's not that I'm sadistic. It's that my creative gift is limited. -_-; Sorry.

To Dark Queen of Roses : *grins* Oh, Joey'll definitely 'go for it'. Though perhaps not quite in the way you expect … Thank you!

To RavenStarr : Thank you very much!

To Swoot : Thanks for the succinct definition and the praise! ^_^

To Kiawna : Read and find out. Thank you! ^_^

To Kaira-chan : *snorts* You thought Joey was bad? I wonder what you'll think of Kaiba then. Hehehe. ^_^; Thank you!

To hieiandkuramalover : Well, ducks can be quite interesting to talk to. *coughs* Not speaking from any personal experience of course. -_-;;; Bu-ut anyway, glad to hear you liked it! ^_^

To Madame de Lioncourt (would your first name happen to be Gabrielle? ;)) : Thank you, I did.

*

For Ramna Higurashi ; insanity in, insanity out I'm afraid. ~.^

"Pocky is a Japanese candy of sorts, it's sticks made out of some sort of cookie/cracker covered in things like Strawberry cream, or chocolate, or vanilla cream, and sometimes it has crushed almonds or something on it too. Very yummy, and addictive … " –definition of Pocky, provided by Swoot in her review (thank you!)

**********

_"But I've been a very good dog, Kaiba. Good dogs don't have to wear a leash. Unless they want to, of course." Joey grinned, sitting down just out of Seto's reach._

_"Oh really? And just *how* good have you been?" Seto inquired archly._

_"Very, very good." Joey purred. Somehow the blond had gotten rid of his shirt. The sun made his skin look golden, begging to be touched._

_Seto swallowed, sternly telling himself that this park was much too public a place to ravish Joey. It would damage his public image if he got caught and ..._

_"Would you like me to show you just what a good little puppy I can be, Seeetooo?" Joey stretched, slowly crawling over to where Seto was sitting, a mischievous expression on his face._

_Seto told the rational part of his mind to go jump out of a window or something. He had no idea what had brought on this sudden change in Joey's attitude towards him, but he wasn't about to let this opportunity slip through his fingers._

_"Maybe." Seto shrugged, hiding his smirk at the flash of frustration in Joey's eyes at this luke-warm response. The mutt really should know better than to expect Seto Kaiba to melt so easily._

_A soft growl was all the warning he got, before Joey pounced on him, staring down on him with a smug expression as Seto vainly tried to get him off. Soft lips brushed past his own, tasting like honey and summer._

_"You call jumping on me being 'good'?" Seto wheezed as they broke apart._

_"No. You were right, Seto." Joey gave him a wide-eyed, sad look. "I'm not a good dog at all."_

_"Hmmm, someone should really put you on a leash then." Seto agreed, nodding absently._

_"Would *you* want to? Would you want me to be your obedient little puppy?" Joey asked, making his words sound more like an offer than an actual question._

_Seto licked his lips that had gone dry for some reason, his imagination conjuring up all kinds of interesting pictures of Joey wearing a dog's collar and, well, little else. He didn't quite trust his voice, so instead of a verbal answer he pulled Joey closer for another kiss. The blond didn't seem to mind._

*****

"Earth to Kaiba, anyone home in there?" Seto returned to the harsh reality, where a fully dressed Joey was waving a hand in front of his eyes. Annoyedly swatting at the hand, he murderously glared at its owner. How *dared* the mutt interrupt his daydream like this, and just when he had gotten to the good parts too?

"I was thinking. An acitivty," he added with a sneer, "I am sure you probably aren't familiar with."

"Why do I even bother?" Joey rolled his eyes, sagging down nearby Seto. After he had made himself comfortable, he looked up at Seto again. "What is it with you and that attitude of yours, Kaiba? Are you scared that people might find out the real you isn't someone they can like? Is that why you act like a total bastard all the time, so that no one's going to be disappointed when you finally drop that mask of yours?"

"Your brainless babbling doesn't make any sense. I am exactly as I appear to be." Seto replied coldly. 

Somewhat to his surprise, Joey didn't continue their argument. Instead, he merely sighed, staring out into nothingness.

"You know, Kaiba ... " There was an odd note in Joey's voice, an unusual seriousness the blond rarely displayed. It made Seto feel just a tad bit guilty about his earlier taunting about Joey not being able to use his brains. Not enough to consider apologizing of course, but still ... at this moment, Seto sensed a deep mind behind those honey-brown dog-eyes that stared at him, so full of feelings and emotions.

"What?" Seto replied, more snappy than he had intended to.

"I'm kind of hungry. You wouldn't happen to have any food with you, would you?"

*****

"Ah-hah. Look what we have here!" Bakura triumphantly held up a box of pocky, lifted from Seto's personal safe, located in Seto's personal office to which only two persons had the key. 

"Gimme!" One of those two persons cried out, reaching for the box which the tomb-robber held above his head with a slight smirk. "Pleeeaaaase?" Mokuba turned the full force of his puppy-eyes on Ryou's yami. 

Bakura sighed, dropping the box into Mokuba's eager hands. "Once I used to rob gold and jewels from dead people, you know."

Mokuba shrugged, unwrapping a stick of pocky. "Once Yami used to have hundreds of slaves at his beck and call. Now he has only one. It's called 'progress'."

"Speaking of slaves ... " Bakura frowned checking his watch. "Do you think Ryou's sugar-rush has worn off already and that I can go home without risking being molested?"

"Hmmm, no, I think it'd be better if you stayed here a little while longer." Mokuba nodded his head sagely. "Besides, there are a few more places I'd like you to check."

~tbc~


	4. Fourth short chapter

Sweet dreams are made of .... Pocky

****

Warnings/notes : Seto/Joey, Mokuba, major weirdness bordering on insanity

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 29th december 2003, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the third chapter :

To hieiandkuramalover : Glad to hear you liked it! ^_^ And Pocky might not be comparable to gold or diamonds, but it's still a treasure for Mokuba. ^^;

To Kaira-chan : Thank you very much. Mokuba might be a little less cute in this chapter but ... ^_^;

To Digimagic (and Sarah) : Thank you! ^_^

To I luv Kai : Sorry, not too soon. Hope you'll still like it. :)

To Kaneda-Shotaro and Yami Tetsuo : Poor Mokie? *smirks* I wonder if you'll still think so at the end of this chapter. ^_^;

To Madame de Lioncourt : ^^; Well, I did my best. Thank you! :)

To DarkShadowFlame : At least Joey's dreams haven't featured a giant doughnut ... yet. Glad to hear you liked the chapter! ^_^

Bakura : Did I say 'molested'? I meant 'chased around the house by a sugar-high hikari who wants me to take him to the mall to buy new clothes' (I'm a *thief*! Buying stuff is pure torture to me!). Obviously, the only one who does any molesting in our relationship is *me*.

To MalletWielderofDoom (and Talon) : Well, let's just say Mokuba has his ways to make people do what he wants them to do. ^^; (Or maaaybe I simply use my Authoress Powers to help him along. -_-;). Thank you! :)

Bakura : Of course he doesn't have any compromising pictures of me baking a cake for Ryou and doing other cute stuff that doesn't fit my tough image. ^_^

To Dark Queen of Roses : Awww, do you have such a low opinion of Seto that you think *he* wouldn't give any pocky to Joey? ^^; Thank you! :)

To Temptress Nagisa : Well, hope you'll enjoy this chapter's trip into Joey's mind. There'll probably be some more dreams, since I want to have at least *one* daydream about the famous 'giant doughnut'. ^_^; Thank you!

To Female-Yami/Yugi (and Yami Jiei) : ^^; Anou, I have enough muses to 'torture' already. Hehehe. *fades out for a moment*

__

Yami-muse : Noooooo! Don't make Yugi get sugar-high again! _

Yugi-muse : Yami doesn't love me anymore! Waaaaaaah! ;_;

To Shinigami709 : Hey, there's a first time for everything. ^^; And he could use some cheering ... ^_^;

To Lethe Seraph : Yup, there's more to Joey than his stomach. ^_^ Thank you!

To Star Light Shadow : Seto just needs to loosen up a bit, ne? ^_^ Good luck in your own hunt for pocky and thank you! :)

To a rose by any name would still smell as sweet : Thank you, I did. :)

To Molly-chan the Anime/Game fan (and Yami) : Thank you very much. Being sugar-high's actually more of a help than thinking to me when writing this fic but ... ^_^;

To RavenStarr : Hey, it's not *my* fault *Seto* has fantasies like that! ~.^ Thank you! 

To Romennar : Well, it's not really Seto's pocky, is it? Thank you!

Mokuba *pouts* : I bet you don't hide *your brothers'* pocky though! ;_;

To KawaiiKireiKaiba : Thank you! :)

To Kiawna : Yup. Maybe I should make the warnings read 'Seto/Joey, Mokuba/Pocky'. ^_^; Thank you!

For Ramna Higurashi ; insanity in, insanity out I'm afraid. ~.^

**********

"Unlike you, I am not obsessed with food." Kaiba replied, with his usual sneer. Joey sighed, half annoyed with himself for even bothering to ask. As if Kaiba would ever share his food with him! 

The other half of him was annoyed at having revealed his weakness in front of his enemy once again. All in all, it wasn't a very happy or cheerful Joey Wheeler who snapped at Kaiba : "I have more obsessions than food, you know."

"Like what?" Kaiba snorted incredulously.

"Like ... like ... " _"Like you," Joey replied, waging a hopeless battle against the blush that colored his cheeks. "I'm obsessed with you as well."_

Kaiba laughed, before whirling around to grab Joey by the collar of his shirt. Joey was surprised to see the anger burning in those normally so ice-cold, blue eyes.

"Don't mock me, mutt. And don't try to play games with me. I assure you you won't like the results."

"I ... " Joey stammered, slightly scared by this sudden turn of events. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Which was perfectly true. He couldn't think of a single reason for Kaiba's odd behavior.

"It's not nice to lie, puppy," Kaiba chided. One of his hands was reaching for Joey's face now. For a moment, the blond wondered if the CEO intended to hit him or something, but then Kaiba's other hand came up, his face being cupped in a manner that was almost gentle.

"I was not - " Joey began heatedly, not about to let the insult slip so easily, simply because Kaiba was acting like this was one of Joey's dreams all of a sudden.

"Sure you were," Kaiba murmured, his face very close to Joey's now.

The slightest movement of either of them would cause their lips to make contact. For some reason though, neither of them made that move, simply staring at each other in silence.

Finally, Joey decided that he had waited long enough and leaned forwards, closing his eyes in anticipation for the taste of the very first kiss he would ever share with the love of his life, the one he had dreamt of for so long ...

"Cat got your tongue?" Joey opened his eyes again, finding Kaiba gazing at him with nothing but his usual expression of coldness and disdain. "Or were your brains simply not up to the challenge of actually having to work? If you have any, that is." Kaiba smirked.

"I'm not *that* stupid!" Joey snapped, a bit belatedly realizing he had just admitted to being less-than-smart. Though he had to admit daydreaming about Kaiba kissing him, while wasting the chance to make those dreams a reality wasn't exactly very intelligent, this wasn't something he wanted Kaiba to find out about.

The CEO was taunting him enough as it was ; he definitely didn't need Joey's help to humiliate and insult the blonde. For a fleeting moment of insanity, Joey wondered if Kaiba might start praising him if he'd call himself stupid. Just for the sake of his perverted urge to argue with Joey.

"No? You're merely brainless enough to go out without any food, while knowing full well you'll get hungry within a quarter then?" Kaiba inquired with mock-curiosity, one eyebrow raised.

"You're such a bastard, you know that?" Joey glared at Kaiba, who shrugged unimpressed. Joey sourly concluded he was probably immume to any glares after having seen his own so often in the mirror.

*****

A trembling figure huddled miserably in what he hoped to be a good hiding place for the lethal menace that was currently haunting the halls and rooms of the Kaiba mansion.

"I should have known better than to give him pocky," he muttered softly, not daring to raise his voice above a whisper for fear of being heard. The fugitive had actually been looking for a bathroom so that he could lock the door behind him, but he hadn't been able to find one fast enough.

There were only two people living in this mansion under normal circumstances after all, so it made sense that the number of bathrooms would be rather limited.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, the person hiding behind what seemed to be a very big plushie froze, his gaze wandering around the room in search of possible routes of escape or -if it would come to that- something to defend himself with. Unsurprisingly he found nothing. Ah well, he supposed he could always throw the big plushie and hope it would distract his pursuer long enough for him to manage to get away.

"Bakuuuura! Where are you?" Mokuba called out with a slight grin. The open door was a dead give-away, but it was more fun to pretend he hadn't noticed that telling signal yet.

Cautiously entering the room in which he knew Bakura to be, Mokuba dodged the Blue Eyes-plushie that came his way with a surprised yelp, that was drowned by the sound of Bakura's own scream. Then the white-haired yami pushed past him, sprinting down the hall with a cackling laugh that sounded just a tad bit hysterical.

"Oh well, I guess he'd rather play tag than hide and seek after all. Fine with me." Mokuba giggled and ran after Bakura, who was currently contemplating the benefits of a sugar-high Ryou. Now, if only he could find some stairs. Or else a window ; Bakura wasn't going to be picky about that.

~tbc~

A/N : Would anyone mind me tossing some Bakura/Ryou in? Or other couples?


	5. Fifth

Sweet dreams are made of .... Pocky

*****

Warnings/notes : Seto/Joey, Mokuba, major weirdness bordering on insanity, slight Bakura/Ryou and Yami/Yugi.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 4th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the fourth chapter :

To hieiandkuramalover : Bakura can be quite fast when he puts his mind to it, rest assured. ~.^ Thank you!

To I luv Kai (and YT) : All yamis are odd, I think. ^^; Thank you!

To Kaneda-Shotaro and Yami Tetsuo : But he's still a cutie, don't you think? Thank you!

To Kaira-chan : Ah well, it could have been worse for Joey. He could have actually been *right* in thinking Seto didn't care. ~.^ Thank you! ^_^

To MalletWielderofDoom (and Talon) : Always nice to hear there's someone who no longer wants to kill me. ^^; Thank you very much!

To shadowscream : *throws a Tea-plushie at your head* Maybe I'll have Ryou drink some, just for you. ~.^ Thank you!

To s.h.i.r.o.i.k.e.t.s.u.e.k.i. : They make a move this chapter! *beams* ^^; And a window will be provided, don't worry. Thank you!

To Dark Queen of Roses : Oooh, I think calling him a 'baka' hurts his ego worse than chasing him with a flamethrower. ^^; Thank you!

To Swoot : Well, I am. Kind of. You'll see … I hope you'll also like it. Thank you!

To Kuroi Bara no Twilight : Thank you, I did my best.

To Anime-Ali : I love writing the dream-scenes, so I'm glad you like reading them as well. Thank you!

To Temptress Nagisa : Me having Mokuba kill anyone? Perish the thought! (Well, he might give Seto a heart-attack by acting the way I wrote him, but … that's why I tossed Bakura at him and kicked Seto out of the house.) *coughs* Thank you!

To Female-Yami/Yugi (and Yami Jiei and Noa) : A 'thank you!' to you, a 'get well (really) soon' to your yami and a cute and brotherly loving Mokuba-clone to Noa. ^^;

To Kiawna : Ryou and Mokuba aren't the only ones on a sugar-high though *coughYugicough*. And Seto's … troubled enough by Joey. I'll spare him the sugar-high Mokuba I think. Thank you!

To Digimagic (and Sarah) : Thank you! My favorite YuGiOh pairing to write is Seto/Joey (you *knew* that, right?) and to read … well, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda, Yami/Yugi and Bakura/Ryou I guess, in no particular order. I also like most pairings with Anzu in them. My favorite characters … Mokuba and Otogi. All the others come in second to them, with a few exceptions like Rex, Weevil and Mako. ^^;

To Tasan15 : I tried to hurry, really. Sorry. Thank you. 

To FREAK014 : Hmmm, I'd say Ryou is in general calmer than Mokuba. Is that any clue? Thank you!

To Star Light Shadow : Joey and Seto will do something this chapter that should get things moving. Thank you!

To EternalDarkFlame : I will, I will. At least try to, anyway. ^^; Thank you!

To Cazzy123 (and yami) : Thank you!

To DarkShadowFlame : Only twice? ~.^ Weevil/Pegasus … I won't ask. *feels curious anyway* I hope to move from 'day-dreaming' to 'reality' some time soon. Though I do like writing those dreams. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Lightning Sage : Thank you! 

To Romennar : *throws her second Anzu-plushie at your head* Anzu's cute. And not in the plot for this fic. Thank you! ^^;

To Little Miss Raven-chan : Thank you, even if you make me feel … 'bad'. ~.^

To Uni-Mara : Odd, how you read my mind … Thank you!

To RaineKitsune : Thank you, I will! 

To Icy Flame : Awww, but Joey and Seto can be cute too, ne? Thank you!

To Xiaoling's Ying Fa : Uhm … I don't have pocky all that often, unfortunately. Thank you! ^_^

Sorry for the very, very, very long wait. I hope it won't happen again. ^^; 

**********

Bakura had no idea why there'd be an open window on the top-floor of the Kaiba-mansion, in a room that looked like some sort of office. Or why there'd be a conveniently placed heap of mattresses under it, to break his fall.

But he sure wasn't going to complain about such a stroke of good luck.

And so, after having discarded the idea of setting the mattresses on fire to prevent Mokuba from following him (because he didn't have any matches on him and it would take far too long to go and steal them), Bakura hurriedly made his way back to the relative safety of his own home.

*****

"Can't you think of a more original insult?" Seto sneered. "That one has gotten rather old you know. Not that it was very intelligent to start with ... "

"Well, what I actually want to yell at you isn't really suitable for young, innocent ears. So, considering we're in a park, I thought I'd show some restraint," Joey snapped back.

"You showing some restraint? That'd be a first!" Seto snorted. _"But all right, if you wish to play it that way, how about we go to my mansion?"_

_Brown puppy-eyes widened in adorable confusion. "W-what? Why?"_

_"Well, since Mokuba's not at home, you could say anything you wanted to say to me there, without needing to ... restrain yourself." Seto smirked. "Of course, the same would go for me."_

_"What's *that* supposed to mean?" Joey inquired, a hint of suspicion in his voice._

_Seto grinned. "Are you scared you'll not be able to handle what I choose to dish out to you, puppy? Afraid of the big bad CEO?"_

_"I'm not scared of anything, you bastard!" Joey growled, jumping up with his hands balled into fists._

_"I thought we had already established that that wasn't a very original or intelligent insult." Seto responded, calmly rising as well, trying not to look too smug. The blonde was just so easy to manipulate. He sometimes wondered why the game still gave him so much pleasure._

_"Oh, stop being such a stuck-up ... person!" Joey shook his head. _

_"You're improving, mutt." Seto grinned. "I guess what they say about a dog not being able to learn new tricks isn't true after all then."_

_"It's an *old* dog, Kaiba. You can't teach an old dog new tricks," Joey corrected him absently._

_"Of course, my mistake. You're a puppy still, so there should be plenty of tricks I could teach you." Seto noted with some surprise that Joey didn't look too angry at being called a 'puppy'._

_"You actually admit to being wrong? Wow!" Joey smiled brightly, before his expression darkened. "And I'm not a puppy!"_

_"But you're definitely canine by nature, mutt. And you yourself said you weren't an old one. Besides, the word suits you. It's ... cute."_

_"Cute?" Joey stared at him as if he had grown another head. Then his eyes softened, until he was almost smiling again. Had he been more of a cat-person, Seto might have described the sound of Joey's voice while speaking the next words as a 'purr'. "You really think I'm cute?"_

_"It was ... a slip of the tongue," Seto said quickly, his words halting as Joey approached him with a peculiar gleam in his eyes that made him feel somewhat uncomfortable. It was as if he had lost control of this situation somewhere along the way. "I meant to say 'annoying'."_

_"Sure you did." Joey purred. For some reason. Seto found himself settling back down in the grass. Since Joey did the same though, it wasn't as humiliating as it might have been._

_"What ... are you doing, puppy?" Joey's face was very close all of a sudden. So was the rest of the blonde, now that Seto came to think of it. "What ... "_

_"Shut up and ravish me already. I know you want to. You know you want to. Stop fooling around," Joey whispered._

_Seto managed not to reply that if anyone was 'fooling around' here, it was Joey. He was reasonably sure his voice would do something undignified to embarrass him, like squeaking, or refusing to come at all._

_Still, an effort ought to be made. No matter how alluring the prospect of agreeing to Joey's ... request (though it was phrased more like an order, really), Seto was determined to do things *his* way._

_He shook his head, vainly trying to clear it from the visions his imagination was conjuring of what he and Joey might do._

"Well, if you don't believe me, I suppose we could always go somewhere else. Someplace where I won't have to be as ... restrained. Just to prove to you that I was being civil just now," Joey proposed.

Seto blinked, wondering if this was still part of his odd daydream. Unfortunately Joey was looking at him, which meant he couldn't really pinch himself to make sure.

"And where would you suggest us to go?" he asked cautiously. Joey stared at him, apparently surprised that he was actually considering the proposal.

"Uhm ... I don't know. My house? No. Too messy. How about yours?" Joey smiled. 

Convinced now that this was merely a continuation of his fantasy and that it thus was perfectly safe for him to agree, Seto nodded his head pleasantly. "Why not?"

He only hoped the real Joey wouldn't disrupt this daydream too early, like he had done previously.

*****

"Ryou? Are you at home?" Bakura strode into the house he and Ryou lived in. In theory, it belonged to Ryou's father, but since he was always away on some sort of archaeological expedition, Ryou and Bakura were its only inhabitants in practice.

Which suited Bakura just fine. Ryou tended to turn all shy and cold on him when his father was around, acting as if Bakura was some sort of unwanted, live-in relative instead of his beloved other half, whom Ryou adored and worshipped unconditionally.

"Hikari? Sweetling? Snugglebunny?" Still no reply, not even to that last nickname, Ryou's favorite, no matter how hard he denied it. Bakura was forced to reach the unpleasant conclusion that Ryou wasn't home. Apparently, Ryou didn't really care all that much about him.

"Well, I hate him too. I was lying when I told him I loved him last night," Bakura entrusted to the statue of Ra that was standing next to the door that led to the kitchen. It obliged him by listening without commenting.

Entering the kitchen, he noticed the cute pink note on the fridge, obviously left by Ryou, his traitorous, cold-hearted hikari.

'I'm bored so I'm going to Yugi's. Dinner's in the fridge.'

~tbc~


	6. Sixth

Sweet dreams are made of .... Pocky

******

Warnings/notes : Seto/Joey, Mokuba, major weirdness bordering on insanity, slight Bakura/Ryou and Yami/Yugi.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 9th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the fifth chapter :

To Femal-Yami/Yugi (and Yami Jiei) : Yes, they are. Though I'm not sure if I agree with you on the humor-fics … Thank you! And I hope Noa'll be too happy to bother you again. ; )

To Swoot : ^^; Thank you.

Bakura : You would? How much? I could always use some extra money … ~.^

To Audrey K. : No can do, sorry. This fic is a pretty messed up Seto/Joey and Mokuba loves Seto way too much to stay away too long. ^^; In my humble opinion, of course. Thanks. : )

To Kaira-chan : Thank you very much! ^_^

To Kiawna : You're right. I hope you'll enjoy the read! Thank you! : )

To Rainekitsune : ^^; I thought it was cute.

To Crystal Blaize : Not very soon, sorry. Thank you! : )

To Esopha : Actually, there are supposed to be as many Joey-daydreams as Seto ones, since I kind of switch focus each chapter. The Joey ones are recognizable by Seto being called 'Kaiba' in them, while in the Seto ones, he's 'Seto'. ^^; Thank you for the comments! I hope I'll be able to keep up the good stuff and improve on the not-so-good stuff this chapter. ^_^

To HiKari, Mokuba's Guardian : I think Seto'd figure out Mokuba needs some time to cool down. And having Joey around might prove distracting … ^^; Thank you! : )

To MalletWielderofDoom (and Talon) : Submit to the passion? ^^; Why, because I want this fic to last a little longer, of course! ~.^ Thank you very much! : )

To Redkite1019 : Sorry, no more pairings to come. But glad you liked the story thus far. Thank you! : )

To Star Light Shadow : Hmm, Ryou teaching Bakura  …. *sighs dreamily* ^^; Sorry. Thank you! ^_^

To damiscus : Don't worry, you didn't insult me. Just my Anzu-muse. ~.^ Thank you! : )

To Shinigami709 : *catches the candy* Thank you! And look what it made me write … ~.^

To FREAK014 : 'Yaoi stuff'? What do you think those daydreams are? _; Uhm, sorry. And thank you. : )

To Lethe Seraph : Oh, it won't be mortals that will be the target of Bakura's wrath. Hehehe. ~.^ Thank you! ^_^

To DarkShadowFlame : No, no, the request was for 'jump-on-the-other-and-[removed for spoilers, though you can read it in the request] and that's what I'm going to stick to. Hmm, Bakura's hair … it's probably soft like silk, because he's a bishie. Lucky them … ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Romennar : Thank you!

To Icy Flame : Seto making an ass of himself? Perish the thought! I love him too much for that. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Nekocin : Bakura and Ryou do have a weird relationship. But then again, so do Seto and Joey. This whole story's just messed up (and meant to be that way). ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Anime-Ali : Mokuba's home all alone … for now. Thank you! : )

To Uni-Mara : I did my best, thank you! : ) 

To hieiandkuramalover : Thank you very much for taking the time to review by e-mail! Yes, I admit that Bakura's a bit … weird. Maybe he suffers from too less sugar? ^^;

**********

After having armed himself with his most trusted butter-knife (Ryou had taken away his 'real' ones) and some bribes to keep the Pharaoh's midget (more commonly known as Yugi) from interfering with the mortal combat Bakura would have to wage against forementioned Pharaoh for the life of his ungrateful hikari, Bakura set off in the direction of the gameshop.

Ryou might think Yugi and Yami were his friends, but Bakura knew better. Yami had never forgiven Ryou for pressing him into bringing Bakura back to life and giving him a body of his own, by combining the magical powers of Yugi's Puzzle and Ryou's Ring.

And now Ryou had walked straight into the lion's den, without Bakura there to keep him out of Yami's evil clutches. His poor, foolish hikari was obviously still under the influence of all that chocolate he had consumed earlier on the day. Normally, Ryou wouldn't dare to go anywhere without notifying Bakura first, humbly begging him to come along for protection, staying home when his request wasn't granted.

The door to the gameshop was open. Bakura rushed inside, mentally already hearing Ryou's cries for help. His mindlink gave no indication of Ryou being even remotely in discomfort, yet Bakura reasoned it was very well possible Ryou had simply shut him out, to spare him Ryou's whining and weeping.

From time to time, Ryou could be astonishingly noble and self-sacrificing.

"Ah, good afternoon, young Ryou. I hadn't noticed you had left." Yugi's grandfather still didn't seem to be able to see the difference between Bakura and his hikari. Bakura wondered if the old man also mistook Yami for Yugi sometimes. The thought of the high and mighty Pharaoh being adressed as 'little Yugi' amused Bakura enough to let the insult of being mistaken for his weakling hikari pass by unpunished.

Giving Yugi's grandfather a curt nod, he rushed past, heading straight for his target. Undoubtedly the Pharaoh was cowardly hiding in Yugi's room. Bakura had been there only once, finding the place somewhat disturbing. All those plushies staring at him ... how on earth Yami put up with it and even managed to kiss and snuggle with Yugi while so many pairs of eyes were watching him was beyond Bakura.

Reaching the door, he braced himself for whatever horrible scene would be waiting for him and reached for the handle. For Ryou, he told himself. For Ryou.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice whispered from behind him.

*****

Joey hadn't really expected Kaiba to agree to his suggestion. As far as he knew, Kaiba never ever asked anyone over. Not even Yami, when he had managed to have Yugi's other half agree to another rematch. Kaiba always came to the gameshop for those.

Still, he wasn't going to pass up on this opportunity. He had fantasized for ages about how the fabled Kaiba-mansion would look on the inside. On one hand, he expected dozens of servants swarming all over the place, to see to Kaiba and Mokuba's every need, on the other he could hardly imagine Kaiba putting up with *anyone*'s company willingly, let alone *pay* people to be around him.

Quickly following Kaiba, who briskly walked inside, without holding the door for his guest or even checking if Joey was still behind him, Joey decided his second guess had probably been right.

_Rather suddenly, Kaiba stopped walking and turned around, eyeing Joey with an expression that he couldn't quite read. It was different from the CEO's usual arrogant smirk, yet there still was something superior about it, something that was almost kind of ... predatory?_

_"Any room in particular you had in mind to continue our ... conversation?" Kaiba inquired._

_Joey wondered if it was possible for a room to go from 'pleasantly cool' to 'nearly unbearably hot' in under ten seconds. Surely it wasn't just Kaiba's behavior that was making him feel this warm?_

_"Not really," he managed. His voice sounded squeaky, but Kaiba seemed not to notice. Or, if he did, he chose not to make some sneering comment on it._

_"Hmmm?" Kaiba took one step forwards. Joey wondered why he felt frozen on the spot, as if Kaiba's gaze had pinned him down, rendering him unable to move. "Not a very smart puppy, are you?"_

_"I'm *not* a dog!" Joey snarled, using the anger as something familiar, to regain his control over the situation a little. True, he hadn't come here for another argument or verbal fight, but Joey wasn't going to give Kaiba the satisfaction of admitting that._

_"Yes, you are. And a bad one at that, snapping at your master like that." Kaiba grinned, reaching out to grasp Joey's wrist. His grip was light, though Joey suspected he'd have a hard time getting loose. *If* he'd make any attempt to get loose, that was. "I think I should punish you, teach you a lesson."_

_"Hah! I'd like to see you try!" Joey replied, noting his voice might sound a little bit too enthusiastic. Then again, this whole situation was messed up, so he supposed he could simply chalk it up to that and go along with the flow._

_"Oh, I intend to do more than just 'try'," Kaiba assured him. "Much more."_

_Joey should have seen it coming, really, yet it still surprised him to feel Kaiba's body pressed against his own, their lips mere inches apart. Blue eyes gazed into his own, slightly hazy. _

_He closed his eyes, leaning back, waiting ..._

"Oh, I'm so sorry, big brother! I hadn't seen you! I was just ... hey, what's Joey doing here? Did you ask him over? Are you two - "

Joey blinked, discovering somewhat to his surprise that he was, indeed, in Kaiba's arms. Unfortunately, that wasn't due to any desire of Kaiba's, but rather because the CEO had been shoved that way by Mokuba bumping into him.

"What Joey is doing here is - " Kaiba began, hurriedly stepping back. Joey succeeded in not losing his balance by some sort of miracle only. The combination of that vivid daydream and having had Kaiba crash into him must have influenced him more than he'd expected.

"Oh, wait, never mind. I'm not talking to you!" Mokuba glared at Kaiba. "My big brother is a meanie, you know," he continued, turning to Joey. "And he's also in love with - "

"Stop acting like a spoilt brat, Mokuba. Here," Kaiba handed Mokuba some sort of key, "go eat some pocky or something. And stop bugging Joey. He bumped his head thanks to your rashness and you babbling to him isn't going to help him any."

"Ah!" Mokuba smiled sweetly. "Of course. It might be best if he'd lie down for a bit then. Maybe in your bedroom?" With a wink at Joey, Mokuba strolled away, in the direction of the kitchen.

*****

"And why not, Pharaoh?" Bakura asked, trying to sound sneering and disinterested. The haunted look on Yami's face was unsettling though. 

"Because Yugi and Ryou are in there - " Yami broke off fearfully, staring at the door as if he was afraid some horrible monster might burst out any moment. 

"So what?" Bakura shrugged. "I'm not scared of those two losers." Ryou's sugar-high ought to have worn off by now, meaning that Yami was probably just trying to scare him. Well, Bakura wasn't going to fall for that! If the Pharaoh really thought the King of Thieves was *that* easily fooled ...

Yami looked at him as if he had gone insane, before adding in a near-whisper : "They have lots of sugar and chocolate with them, you idiot! If you open that door - "

"Yami! There you are!" The door wasn't closed anymore. Two figures were standing in the door-opening, both of them with bright eyes. Very bright eyes, and a wide grin.

Bakura swallowed hard, momentarily frozen by the horror in front of him.

He still managed to trip up Yami and be the first to reach the stairs though.

~tbc~

A/N : If all goes well, the next chapter should be the last one.


	7. Seventh and last

Sweet dreams are made of .... Pocky

*******

Warnings/notes : Seto/Joey, Mokuba, major weirdness bordering on insanity, slight Bakura/Ryou and Yami/Yugi.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 14th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the sixth chapter :

To Macduff's Mistress : Thank you! : )

To FREAK014 (and yami) : ^_^; Thank you. : )

To Female-Yami/Yugi (and Yami Jiei) : Thank you for the flowers! I ah hope you'll have fun with poor Peggy-chan. ^^;

To Kaira-chan : Aww, cheer up! It's *Yami* after all. Getting out of sticky situations is his specialty! ~.^ Thank you! ^_^

To Shinigami709 : Being killed with a butter-knife … sounds both embarrassing and painful. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Crystal Blaize : *beams* Thank you very much! Glad to hear you like the way I wrote Mokuba! ^_^

To Star Light Shadow : Oooh, Pocky! Thank you! I hope you'll also enjoy this last chapter! ^_^

To s.h.i.r.o.i.k.e.t.s.u.e.k.i : Hmmm, to answer your questions would be spoiling, so … read and find out! Thank you! ^_^

To youko-moon : Well, Seto's gotten somewhat immune to it. ^^; Thank you! : )

To Icy Flame : Hmm, I'd better not let my Bakura-muse read your comment on him. ^^; Thank you very much, also for the Pocky! ^_^

To MalletWielderofDoom (and Talon) : Ah, but Bakura has got Yami to use as a distraction. ^^; Mokuba is … mature? But yes, he does know a lot of things about Seto. Thank you! ^_^

To DarkShadowFlame : Well, I hope this last chapter won't disappoint you. It's not quite fluffy, actually. Thank you very much! ^_^

To Esopha : Ah, but if Bakura had, he would have missed the pleasure of throwing Yami to a pack of sugar-high hikaris! ~.^ Thank you! ^_^

To Uoyr's Lover : No need to yell. ^^; Thank you for the encouragement ; here's the next chapter. : )

To citcat-chan : Say 'please'? ~.^

To Lightning Sage : Thank you! : )

To Neko Mew Midorikawa : I'm glad to hear you like this fic thus far. Thank you! : )

To Anime-Ali : Thank you, I did my best. : )

[!] Warning : suggestive language

**********

Seto sighed, staring after Mokuba, who was nearly bouncing on his way to more sugar and pocky. He could already feel the headaches coming up. But he had had no choice! If he had allowed Mokuba to finish his sentence ...

"Ooohhhh." Joey fell into him again, moaning softly and grabbing his head, reminding Seto that there were more important matters to think of than little brothers about to go sugar-high.

"What's your problem, mutt?" Seto scoffed, trying to pry Joey's hands off of him without appearing to be bothered by the blonde's touch. Surely Mokuba hadn't caused all of this? Had Joey bumped his head or something?

Joey made no reply, except for more moaning. One of his hands was traveling downwards, sliding down Seto's chest to finally rest on his thigh in a way that Seto found rather uncomfortable. He also could think of no way in which Joey having his hand *there* could help him keep his balance.

It seemed that there was a game being played here.

Ah well, if the puppy wanted to play, who was the master to deny him? As long as the puppy wasn't foolish enough to think he might actually *win* ...

_"You want to know what my problem is, Kaiba?" Joey stared up at him, his cheeks flushed and his hair tousled. For some reason, Joey looked incredibly ... ravishable, for lack of a better word._

_"Would I have asked if I didn't?" Seto replied. "Not that I care, but you're in *my* house right now and I don't want it to be said I mistreated one of my rare guests."_

_Joey managed a weak smile. "No, I guess not, eh? Wouldn't want to lose your reputation of hospitality and caring after all."_

_"Don't talk rubbish, puppy," Seto snorted. "Can you stand on your own now, or are you too much of a weakling to do so?" he sneered, knowing full well what the effect of that would be._

_Unfortunately, Joey refused to oblige, instead strengthening his hold on Seto's clothing, clutching to him as if he was a drowning man and Seto his only chance to survive._

_"Nobody can stand on their own all the time," Joey whispered. His warm breath tickled Seto's ear, making him feel uncomfortably aware of how close their bodies were pressed together. "Not me ... at any rate. I'm just a puppy, remember?"_

_"How could I forget, with you panting in my ear like that?" Seto answered drily. He wanted to get away from Joey, before his body forgot what his brains ordered it to do and simply did what it had desired to do from the first time he had met Joey._

_"Yeah, well, you're my master. Or so you keep saying. So I guess it's all right if I lean on you a little, from time to time. And that it's okay if I want you to touch me and want to touch you as well."_

_Seto had thought it was impossible for the two of them to get any closer, but somehow, Joey proved him wrong by curling up even closer to him, until it felt like their clothes weren't there anymore, leaving the two of them skin to naked skin._

_"I don't ... have ... any feelings for you," he managed, while his body denied his statement by rubbing against Joey's. A rational part of his mind was yelling at him to stop doing this, or at least take it to a place where there would be no risk of Mokuba walking in on them and being scarred for life._

_"Don't lie to yourself, Seto. You want me." Joey grinned at him._

_Seto frowned. He felt like he was losing control of the situation fast - and since when did he allow Joey to call him by his first name? Even more disturbing was the fact that he couldn't even bring himself to care all that much, that he was beginning to feel like maybe he should just relax and enjoy the ride._

_Enjoy the ride ... Seto felt the blood rush to his cheeks at the mental image coming with *that* particular phrase, cursing himself for having picked it._

_"You're blushing," Joey informed him. The blonde sounded much too smug to Seto's taste._

_Growling softly, he grabbed Joey's wrists, effectively pinning the other boy to the wall. He'd simply have to pray Mokuba stayed occupied elsewhere and not wander around the house. _

_"First of all, as you said, I am your master. Not the other way around. You have no right to give me orders or to call me by my first name. Do you understand that?"_

_"You're a control-freak who doesn't like people getting close to him. Yup, I get that. Not that that's anything new to me or something ... " Joey was still wearing that infuriating grin of his._

_"Secondly, I am *not* blushing," Seto continued._

_"Sure, and I'm not a natural blonde." Joey rolled his eyes._

_"Will you shut up?" Seto glared at Joey. "You were the one who started this with your 'I'm weak and I need you'-speech ... "_

_"Ah well, actually, *you* are kind of supposed to shut me up. By, like, kissing me? I'd also settle for being dragged off to your bedroom I think, though I'm not sure."_

_Seto stared at Joey. The blonde didn't look like he was kidding._

_Still, he kept having this nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right about this whole situation. Might this be another daydream? _

_Well, there was a simple way to find out. He closed his eyes -_

- and opened them again to come face to face with a mop of golden hair. Joey's hand was still on his thigh, creeping upwards to a spot where Seto most determinedly didn't want anyone to touch him. At least, not in the middle of a hallway through which innocent children like Mokuba might pass.

"Uhm ... " What was he supposed to say to get his point across? Shoving Joey away seemed a bit harsh. Knowing Joey, he'd probably take it as a rejection and refuse to listen to any arguments from Seto.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" Joey looked up. His hands didn't stop moving though.

"Ahhh ... " Maybe he should take up the suggestion of dream-Joey and drag off his puppy to a bedroom. He felt like he would be a lot more comfortable without his clothes and, probably, Joey would as well.

"Gotcha!" Joey's triumphant cry was accompanied by something stiff brushing past Seto's inner thigh.

"Joey ... " Seto began.

"Is something the matter with you, Kaiba?" Joey peered at him worriedly. Seto felt slightly confused.

"Why would there be?" he inquired, slightly annoyed.

"You just called me by my first name," Joey clarified. "You never do that."

"That's because - " Why was Joey acting like this? Was it ... was Seto supposed to 'shut him up'? "Oh, never mind that. How about we go to my bedroom?"

Joey gazed at him in utter confusion. "Why would we ... ? Ah, I get it! No, thanks, I feel fine again. Guess I was just a bit hungry. But this should keep me going for a while." He held up something for Seto to see. It took the CEO a while to recognize it as the pocky he had put in his pocket earlier that day, to keep it away from Mokuba.

"That's not yours," Seto stated, frowning and reaching for the candy. 

Joey shook his head. "It is now. Besides, you're rich enough to buy more. And I told you I was hungry. You're my master after all ; it's your duty to keep me fed." Joey winked.

"Your master, eh? So if I were to order you to come along to my bedroom, you would do so?" Seto asked, feeling smart. That feeling lasted about five seconds.

"Of course not!" Joey appeared ... amused? "But, hey, you're not as bad as you look. Thanks for the pocky and ... everything. I'll see you at school Monday, eh?"

"Yes, of course. Mutt." Seto felt numb. When had things gone wrong? How could this perfect set-up result in *this*?

Joey chuckled. "Money-bags."

Seto still hadn't figured out what had gone wrong when the door had fallen shut behind Joey.

"Big brother?" Mokuba came strolling down the hallway, an opened box of pocky in his hand. "Are you feeling all right? I'm really sorry for bumping into you earlier. And for yelling at you this morning. And for - "

"It's not your fault." Seto lifted his hand to stem the flood of words from Mokuba. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"You look like you need some pocky," Mokuba observed wisely, offering Seto his box.

Seto shook his head. "I think I'll just go lie down for a little." Maybe he'd get some nice dreams about Joey, now that he hadn't got the real thing.

*****

Seto woke up by the sound of someone slamming open the door. He opened his eyes to find himself in his own bedroom, with a very angry-looking Mokuba glaring at him. The alarm-clock next to his bed told him it was about six o'clock in the morning.

"Seto! I want my pocky back! I know you took it," Mokuba informed him. "And if you don't give it back *right now*, I'm ... I'm going to leave and never coming back again." 

Getting an odd sense of deja-vu, Seto wordlessly held out the key to his safe.

Mokuba blinked, before quickly accepting it. "Thanks, big brother. You're the best!" Mokuba beamed at him. "Oh, and by the way, Joey called to ask if your dinner-date for tonight is still on. He sounded really nervous."

"Maybe he's had bad dreams ... " Seto murmured.

~OWARI~

A/N : I'm not entirely happy with this ending but ... I kind of blame it on Ramna Higurashi, whose request-fic this was after all. ~.^


End file.
